Herb Whitcombe poses in Herb’s Barber Shop in Munnsville on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Whitcombe will retire as a barber after nearly 56 years.
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ONEIDA >> The job of a barber doesn’t mean you are self-employed, according to Herb Whitcombe, owner of Herb’s Barber Shop in Munnsville.

Actually, it means you have many bosses, he explained -- all of the customers who come into the shop.

Whitcombe, 72, will retire from the barber shop this Wednesday after nearly 56 years in the business. He is a lifelong resident of Oneida, and still lives in his maternal grandparents’ former home there. Whitcombe graduated from Oneida High School in 1960 as a member of the very first class to come out of the then-brand new Seneca Street high school building.

While he was growing up, his paternal grandfather John Whitcombe was a barber in Munnsville, and offered the younger Whitcombe the chance to come to the shop to apprentice. Whitcombe got his apprentice license when he was 14 years old and went right to work with his grandfather, spending Saturdays at the shop.

The work then wasn’t particularly glamorous; Whitcombe said he swept and mopped the floor, cleaned the sink, and generally stood in the corner to observe his grandfather in action. Sometimes his grandfather called him over to try his hand at a haircut, Whitcombe remembered.

“He let me do some and then he’d finish it,” Whitcombe recalled. “I was learning a little at a time.”

During his senior year at OHS, Whitcombe passed the test for his barber’s license, and went full-time as soon as he was out of school. A couple of years later his grandfather retired, and Whitcombe bought the business and the building.

Whitcombe said the actual business of a barber has changed little in his five decades-plus at the Munnsville shop. One difference is the price of the haircuts, which rose from $1 in the late ‘50s to $9 now -- hardly a dramatic increase considering the time frame. The biggest change came in January 1996, and entailed a complete renovation of both the business and the building.

That was when a major fire ripped through the apartment behind the barbershop and destroyed much of the building, including Whitcombe’s barber shop and all of his equipment.

Whitcombe recalled he was working that cold January day when someone rushed in from the nearby diner to say he saw what looked like flames in the apartment window. When Whitcombe opened the door to investigate, flames were everywhere and the apartment was already fully engulfed.

“That fire had already gotten enough of a start that it nearly did a job on the whole block,” Whitcombe said.

His shop and all of the contents were a total loss, but in September he reopened his newly remodeled shop with all new barber’s equipment.

Over the last 10 years, Whitcombe has gone part-time at the barbershop, opening Mondays through Wednesdays. He is still busy most of the time, he said.

It’s all of the personalities that have come into his shop that Whitcombe said he will miss the most. There are at least a half-dozen families where he has cut the hair of five generations, and many more with four generations. Customers come in from as far away as Earlville, Lebanon, Boonville, and Whitesboro, he said. Many of the older customers of today started out in a booster seat years ago at his shop.

“I’ve met a lot of nice people, really nice people,” Whitcombe said. “We always tried to have a good time in there, with a lot of joking and insulting each other in fun. It was always a light atmosphere.”

He recalled fondly when a Munnsville man who had lost his legs was carried into the shop by his son, and the son proclaimed, “It’s Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy!” as he came inside. Whitcombe was even quoted in a New York Times article in July 1990 about the famed murder trial of Munnsville resident Delbert Ward, a case that was immortalized in the movie “Brother‘s Keeper.”

The barbershop will continue to serve the community, as Jeff Sawyer, a Munnsville native and retired sergeant with the Madison County Sheriff’s office, will take over. Whitcombe said he’s known his successor for many years, as Sawyer is a longtime customer.

“I cut his hair while he was growing up,” Whitcombe said. “Then one day he said, ‘When I retire I want to be a barber.’”

That conversation was last summer as Sawyer was planning his own retirement. Those years of coming to Whitcombe’s shop had inspired Sawyers’ own career change, so the two men worked out the arrangements for Sawyer to become the new barber in his Munnsville hometown. Whitcombe himself will stay around to help Sawyer through his early days in the business, he said.

Once retired, Whitcombe will be playing in a golf league with his youngest son, Jim, and enjoying more time on his oldest son Tom’s fishing boat. His progeny also includes daughters Cheryl, Lisa, and Janice, and son John, along with 10 grandchildren.

Whitcombe said he is going to miss the camaraderie at the barber shop.

“I really appreciate the following that has built up since I’ve been there,” he said. “I’ve been there so long, and gotten to know the people so well, that they are more friends than they are customers. I’m going to miss them all.”

There will be an open house at the Munnsville American Legion on Friday, May 30, from 5-7 p.m. in Whitcombe’s honor. The public is invited to attend.

About the Author

Mike Jaquays, a nearly life-long resident of Sherrill, is a freelance writer at the Oneida Dispatch. Mike graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 1986 with a degree in mass communications and is now on a quest to spotlight the extraordinary stories of ordinary folks. He also spanks a mean bass with the Oneida-based classic rock band Coston. Reach him at mikejake1164@gmail.com or follow Mike on Twitter @mikejake1164 Reach the author at mikejake1164@gmail.com
or follow Mike on Twitter: @mikejake1164.